The day I gave birth to my second daughter was one of the most traumatic in my life. But it was also made so much easier to bear because of the care I received from the nurses and staff at Regional Hospital of Jackson, TN. Before I left the hospital a week later I was on a first name basis with every nurse on the delivery floor and ICU, and I felt as if we had become a family of sorts.
There are two hospitals in Jackson, TN. One is a large conglomerate that has taken a foothold over the area with hospitals in almost every town. Regional Hospital struggles to get patients because of insurance (source), but one of the nicest things about the hospital that many people don’t know is that if your insurance charges an Out-Of-Network fee to go there, Regional will waive that fee so you pay the same as you would if you had gone to an In-Network hospital. That sold it right there for me.
The labor and delivery rooms in the hospital are spacious and have plenty of room for spouses or visiting family and friends. The nurses make every effort to make you just as comfortable as possible, considering you are in a hospital. A great example of how the nurses go above and beyond there is that the night I was admitted to have my daughter I was checked into my room about 6:15 that evening. In the hospital the nurses work a 7 am to 7 pm shift. The nurse who admitted me was so worried about me she worked until my surgery was completed at 3:30 the next morning, even though she had clocked out and was not being paid. Then she made a point to come back to check on me two days later, even though she lived out of town and she had the rest of the week off.
I was also in the Intensive Care Unit of the hospital for two days during my stay. Although I do not recall all of my time there, I do remember how worried all the nurses said they were about me, even those who were not assigned to my room. Nurses from the delivery floor would come by the ICU to check on me and give me updates about my daughter, who had to be sent to the NICU at the other hospital. The OB nurses called the other hospital twice a day to get information for me because I had a breathing tube and could not speak for two days.
The best thing any healthcare professional can do to put patients and their families at ease is to treat them as if they are part of their family. That is exactly what the staff at Regional Hospital did for me and my family, and that is why anytime I get the chance I tell people that Regional is the best place to go if at all possible.